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Obama goes prime-time; McCain goes after Obama

Obama Campaigns Across The U.S. In Final Week BefoJoe Raedle/Getty Images

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama
plunked down $4 million for a campaign-closing television ad
Wednesday night, summoning voters to "choose hope over fear and
unity over division" in Tuesday's election. Republican John McCain
derided the event as a "gauzy, feel-good commercial," paid for
with broken promises.

"America, the time for change has come," Obama said in the
final moments of the unusual ad, a blend of videotaped moments and
a live appearance before thousands in Sunrise, Fla.

Obama campaigns in North CarolinaJoe Raedle/Getty Images

"In six days we can choose an economy that rewards work and
creates jobs and fuels prosperity starting with the middle class,"
Obama said.

The 30-minute ad, aired on CBS, NBC, Fox and several cable
networks, came just days from the end of a race in which Obama
holds the lead in polls nationally as well as in most key
battleground states as he bids to become the first black president.

And while it is unusual for candidates to acknowledge the
possibility of defeat, Republican running mate Sarah Palin said she
intended to remain a national figure even if the ticket loses next
week. "I'm not doin' this for naught," she told ABC News in an
interview.

Republicans and even some Democrats said the race was tightening
as it neared the end. And while Obama made no mention of McCain in
his paid television ad, both men sharpened their rhetoric during
the day.

McCain, in Florida, argued that Obama lacks "what it takes to
protect America from terrorists" as he sought to shift attention
away from the economy.

McCain holds a rally in FloridaChip Somodevilla/Getty Images

"The question is whether this is a man who has what it takes to
protect America from Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida and the other great
threats in the world," he said of Obama. "He has given no reason
to answer in the affirmative."

Obama, in North Carolina, said if, "Senator McCain is elected,
100 million Americans will not get a tax cut ... your health care
benefits will get taxed for the first time in history ... we'll
have another president who wants to privatize part of your Social
Security."

For weeks now, the race has tilted Obama's way as the two men
traverse traditionally Republican states - Obama angling for a
sizeable triumph and McCain hoping to win the White House in a
close finish.

The 30-minute campaign commercial, purchased at a cost that
campaign aides put at roughly $4 million, marked not only Obama's
attempt to seal his case with the electorate, but also underscored
his enormous financial advantage in the race. He has outraised
McCain by far after first committing - and then reneging - on a
pledge to limit spending to the $84 million available under federal
matching funds.

Obama used his commercial to pledge a rescue plan for the middle
class in tough times. "I will not be a perfect president," he
said. "But I can promise you this - I will always tell you what I
think and where I stand."

McCain campaigns in Miami, FloridaChip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Across 30 minutes, the ad blended views of Obama speaking in a
setting that resembled the Oval Office, at the Democratic National
Convention and elsewhere as well as scenes of Americans discussing
their economic and health care troubles. His wife, Michelle, and
his two daughters had cameos, and there were photos of his black
father from Kenya and white mother from Kansas.

"He's got a few things he wants to sell you: He's offering
government-run health care ... an energy plan guaranteed to work
without drilling ... and an automatic wealth spreader that folds
neatly and fits under any bed," McCain told an audience in
Florida.

Associated Press-GfK polls taken within the past several days
showed Obama ahead in four states that supported President Bush in
2004 and essentially even with McCain in two others.

A separate survey suggested even McCain's home state of Arizona
was not safely in his column.

Earlier in the campaign, former Democratic rival Hillary Rodham
Clinton as well as McCain sought to raise doubts about Obama's
relatively thin resume on foreign policy and national security
matters.

In response, Obama traveled last summer to Iraq, Afghanistan and
Europe, where he met with world leaders. Later, he tapped Sen.
Joseph Biden, who has long experience in foreign policy, as his
vice presidential running mate.

More recently, he won an endorsement from former Secretary of
State Colin Powell.

Conversely, McCain has slumped in the polls as the economic
crisis has unfolded in the past several weeks.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, he said the economic meltdown,
while serious, was temporary, and the nation would emerge stronger.

Besides Obama, he criticized the Democratic leaders of Congress,
who hope to command larger majorities in the new House and Senate
than they do now.

"We're getting only a glimpse of what one-party rule will look
like," he said, predicting deep cuts in defense spending and
efforts to shrink America's role in the world if Democrats take
over the government.

"Let there be no confusion about the threats we face," said
McCain. "I've had to make some defining choices along the way,"
he added in what seemed to be a reference to his time in the Navy,
more than five years of which were spent as a prisoner of war in
Vietnam.

Obama blended his sharp rhetoric with a more humorous approach
as he sought to fend off McCain's charge that his tax policies
amount to socialism.

McCain, he said, will soon "be accusing me of being a secret
communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten."

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(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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Obama Campaigns Across The U.S. In Final Week BefoJoe Raedle/Getty Images